Why do you say it's unsurprising that dubstep is exactly that speed? I know nothing about it as I hate dubstep but I'm interested as to why you said it is unsurprising alot is exactly the same speed...

Anyway my main reason for asking was cos I have been listening to alot of the older dnb from 97 era which is actually my fav. kind overall- cept for very few newskool techy artists such as BSE.

Anyhow since I have stopped taking my stimulants I still like dnb but find it too fast these days without chemical additives when it's ramped up at 180's which I presume is standard nowadays. I noticed with the 97 stuff I've been listening to I can still listen to it without having a panic attack (which it feels like if I am just at home listening to 160+ bpm stuff) yet it's still fast enough to dance to if you wanted.

I'm just thinking that minus chemical additives 150 up to 160 tops would be a nice middle ground to enjoy the music without leaving out any particular demographic.

I read that the older stuff was around 150 at the time and of course it gradually gets ramped up and up as time goes on.

i just think that restricting music to a certain bpm is a bit stupid. Obviously music that's gonna be mixed needs to have similarities to help with the blend, but just sticking to one bpm. Just a physical example of a lack of imagination that makes some modern dance music genres suck balls.

Check the thread on Frictions Future Jungle E.P - the first 2 tracks are at around 150 BPM I believe. IMO the tracks are a bit shit and way too dubstep influenced but I'm definitely gonna be exploring the ideas that he's brought up.

Your right jungle started slow and got faster - but I don't really know too much about this tbh. It's just the natural flow of progression. As in, you can look at the timeline of music and see how it all comes together.

Tempo and chemical abuse aren't proportinal.... i don't think. I.e people still listen to dnb and even breakcore (like 180-190) without em.

True. Exctasy pushed the tempo of acid house to create hardcore, amphetamines helped the jam, ganja helped slow ska down to create rocksteady and the velvet underground got quite a good sound from doing smack. Their is a close link between what drugs a scene consumes and the tempo and feel of the music.

I quite like the idea of my musical tastes mellowing but it hasnt happened yet...think at some point you're even supposed to start enjoying jazz!